No help there

I often expressed frustration, when I was in Iceland, at the lack of formality in terms of long term planning. I also expressed amazement at how often things do "rettast" (magically work out) in that fantastic little island. But no matter how many times I experienced that, it was never enough to dissuade me from preferring a well-thought out plan ratified by all involved parties.

Thus it was with some dismay that in talking to my supervisors at Berkeley recently that I got a similarly "thetta rettast" kind of response. I asked my dissertation advisor and the chair of the department the same question: did they consider it important for me to file my dissertation now in May? Both of them went to great lengths to explain that there was really no need for me to do so, and that it might in fact it might be better if I waited until December to file, so whatever I wanted to do was fine.

Of course academia is probably the most casual and least structured of institutions in the United States, so I should not be surprised that it would have a "free flowing" (Icelandic) management approach.

But I need some incentive to get this dissertation done. I really do. Otherwise, I'll just keep plugging away at it in my turtle like pace. I know I'll get to the finish line, but when is a whole 'nother story.